With chatter about the next market turn heating up, it's a good time to explore the potential impact on program business—to see if there could be a replay of the gut-wrenching turmoil that left some program administrators (PA) out in the cold during the last soft-to-hard transition.

Just how rough was the last such turn? NU's June 12, 2002 edition, displaying an image of a PA wearing a sandwich board that said “Markets Wanted For Program Business,” told the story of bankrupted program carriers—and some that abruptly exited the business—leaving PAs desperately searching for new markets.

Thanks to changes in the way program business is conducted today, experienced niche-market participants don't anticipate widespread damage like that seen a decade ago.

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